1. Field
Embodiments relate to a clothing dryer to dry objects such as clothes and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A clothing dryer is an apparatus designed to dry clothes to be dried (hereinafter, referred to as an object to be dried) by supplying high temperature air (hot air) into a drum accommodating the object to be dried while the drum is rotated. The drum slowly rotates about a horizontal shaft, and thereby the objects to be dried is tumbled in the drum and dried without stains. Such a clothing dryer is provided with a fan for circulation of air and a motor to rotate the drum. The fan and drum are rotated at a predetermined rotational speed by a rotating shaft of the motor via a transmission mechanism such as a pulley or a belt. The rotation transmission mechanism at the drum includes a pulley installed at the rotating shaft of the motor, a belt wound around the circumferential surface of the pulley and the cylindrical drum, and a tension member to apply tension to the belt. However, in the case that the belt is broken or displaced, the drum may fail to normally rotate and stop. In this case, hot air is intensively supplied to the objects to be dried which are accumulated near an inlet of the drum through which the hot air is introduced into the drum. Thereby, clothes may be deformed or damaged.
In conventional cases, breakage of the belt is detected by installing a micro switch at one side of the motor which is turned by reaction force produced in the case that the belt is broken. However, detecting breakage of the belt using a mechanical device may necessitate a separate component, resulting in increase in cost and degradation of workability on the assembly line.